Supt. Chang: The FY19 BPS Budget: Investing in Our Students to
Provide a Better Education for All

The FY19 BPS Budget: Investing in Our Students to
Provide a Better Education for All

By: Boston Pulbic Schools Superintendent Tommy Chang

At
the Boston Public Schools, we believe that our
budget is a values statement, reflecting our
commitment to creating the best schools for all our
students. Through the BPS budget, we prioritize
investing in every individual learner throughout
their academic career. We must ensure that all
students - regardless of their race, native
language, or immigration status - have equitable
access to the supports they need to prepare them to
succeed in college, career, and life.

Here
in Boston, the biggest percentage of the City's
budget is allocated to investing in our students and
our schools. This is due to Mayor Walsh's commitment
to creating 21st century classrooms with excellent
teachers, learning environments and tools for
students.

Under the Mayor's leadership, the
city's allocation to BPS over the past five years
has increased by $170 million, or 18 percent. This
significant investment in our school system comes at
a time when net education aid from the State has
decreased.

Although aid from the state
continues to decline, Boston continues to invest
record amounts in our students: the $1.109 district
budget we are proposing for next school year marks
the largest ever in BPS history. Our proposal
includes a $48 million increase over last year,
building upon the gains we've made in key areas that
have proven results: early childhood education,
extended learning time, and excellent teachers in
every classroom. It also makes record investments in
individual school budgets and maintains Boston's
leadership in investment levels on a per pupil
basis, both in the state and across the county.

With the graduation rate at an historic high and
more Level 1 and 2 schools in city history, Boston
continues to lead the nation in public education.
The proposed budget for next school year will allow
us to build on that momentum.

The BPS budget
continues to invest in proven strategies to close
opportunity and achievement gaps, including
supporting Extended Learning Time, which has added
40 minutes to the school day at 57 schools serving
grades K-8 over the past three years.

The
budget is a making strategic investment to grow the
academic-enrichment program known as "Excellence for
All," which will be supported with an additional
$700,000, bringing the total allocation to $2.6
million. The program, which currently serves 4-5th
grades in 13 schools, will expand to include 6th
grade and serve a total of 1,700 students at 16
schools. Now in its second year, Excellence for All
provides rigorous instruction and high-quality
enrichment, such as foreign languages and robotics,
in an inclusive setting.

In addition, we
continue to hire the best teachers for Boston
schools by offering competitive teacher
compensation.

Our budget is also bolstering
initiatives that have successfully opened new
avenues of opportunity for our most marginalized
populations. One such initiative that we will be
expanding is Becoming a Man (BAM), which has a
proven track record of successfully serving young
men of color by using school-based group counseling
and mentoring to teach valuable life skills.

As a school system, we recognize that in order
for all students to be successful, we need to
provide them social and emotional supports in order
to help them learn effectively. That is why, for the
second year in a row, BPS is providing funding to
individual schools to assist students who are
experiencing homelessness. This important initiative
last year helped approximately 3,500 students.

We are also proposing to add more money to
individual school budgets and provide soft landings
for schools that are seeing enrollment declines.
This year's budget includes funding to ensure that
no school will see a financial impact for the first
one percent of an enrollment decline.

The
BPS budget is created with students in mind first.
We are working to close opportunity and achievement
gaps, and build safe, welcoming and sustaining
learning environments for all our students. We
believe this budget will continue to ensure each and
every BPS student has an excellent education in a
21st-century school.